Murray Bookchin, the visionary and often iconoclastic social theorist
and activist, died during the early morning of Sunday, July 30th in his
home in Burlington, Vermont. During a prolific career of writing,
teaching and political activism that spanned half a century, Bookchin
forged a new anti-authoritarian outlook rooted in ecology, dialectical
philosophy and left libertarianism.
During the 1950s and 60s, Bookchin built upon the legacies of utopian
social philosophy and critical theory, challenging the primacy of
Marxism on the left and linking contemporary ecological and urban
crises to problems of capital and social hierarchy in general.
Beginning in the mid-sixties, he pioneered a new political and
philosophical synthesis termed social ecology that sought to reclaim
local political power, by means of direct popular democracy, against
the consolidation and increasing centralization of the nation state.
From the 1960s to the present, the utopian dimension of Bookchin's
social ecology inspired several generations of social and ecological
activists, from the pioneering urban ecology movements of the sixties,
to the 1970s' back-to-the-land, antinuclear, and sustainable technology
movements, the beginnings of Green politics and organic agriculture in
the early 1980s, and the anti-authoritarian global justice movement
that came of age in 1999 in the streets of Seattle. His influence was
often cited by prominent political and social activists throughout the
US, Europe, South America, Turkey, Japan, and beyond.
Even as numerous social movements drew on his ideas, however, Bookchin
remained a relentless critic of the currents in those movements that he
found deeply disturbing, including the New Left's drift toward
Marxism-Leninism in the late 1960s, tendencies toward mysticism and
misanthropy in the radical environmental movement, and the growing
focus on individualism and personal lifestyles among 1990s anarchists.
In the late 1990s, Bookchin broke with anarchism, the political
tradition he had been most identified with for over 30 years and
articulated a new political vision that he called communalism.
Bookchin was raised in a leftist family in the Bronx during the 1920s
and ë30s. He enjoyed retelling the story of his expulsion from the
Young Communist League at age 18 for openly criticizing Stalin, his
brief flirtation with Trotskyism as a labor organizer in the foundries
of New Jersey, and his introduction to anarchism by veterans of the
immigrant labor movement during the 1950s. In 1974, he co-founded the
Institute for Social Ecology, along with Dan Chodorkoff, then a
graduate student at Vermont's Goddard College. For 30 years, the
Institute for Social Ecology has brought thousands of students to
Vermont for intensive educational programs focusing on the theory and
praxis of social ecology. A self-educated scholar and public
intellectual, Bookchin served as a full professor at Ramapo College of
New Jersey despite his own lack of conventional academic credentials.
He published more than 20 books and many hundreds of articles during
his lifetime, many of which were translated into Italian, German,
Spanish, Japanese, Turkish and other languages.
During the 1960s - ë80s, Bookchin emphasized his fundamental
theoretical break with Marxism, arguing that Marx's central focus on
economics and class obscured the more profound role of social hierarchy
in the shaping of human history. His anthropological studies affirmed
the role of domination by age, gender and other manifestations of
social power as the antecedents of modern-day economic exploitation. In
The Ecology of Freedom(1982), he examined the parallel legacies of
domination and freedom in human societies, from prehistoric times to
the present, and he later published a four-volume work, The Third
Revolution, exploring anti-authoritarian currents throughout the
Western revolutionary tradition.
At the same time, he criticized the lack of philosophical rigor that
has often plagued the anarchist tradition, and drew theoretical
sustenance from dialectical philosophy particularly the works of
Aristotle and Hegel; the Frankfurt School of which he became
increasingly critical in later years and even the works of Marx and
Lenin. During the past year, even while terminally ill in Burlington,
Bookchin was working toward a re-evaluation of what he perceived as the
historic failure of the 20th century left. He argued that Marxist
crisis theory failed to recognize the inherent flexibility and
malleability of capitalism, and that Marx never saw capitalism in its
true contemporary sense. Until his death, Bookchin asserted that only
the ecological problems created by modern capitalism were of sufficient
magnitude to portend the system's demise.
Murray Bookchin was diagnosed several months ago with a fatal heart
condition. He will be remembered by his devoted family members
including his long-time companion Janet Biehl, his former wife Bea
Bookchin, his son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter as well as
his friends, colleagues and frequent correspondents throughout the
world. There will be a public memorial service in Burlington, Vermont
on Sunday, August 13th. For more information, contact
info(at)social-ecology.org.
Brian Tokar is a dedicated GMO activist, bioregionalist, and good friend of the permaculture movement in the northeast, he can be reached at the address below:
Brian Tokar
Institute for Social Ecology
P.O. Box 48
Plainfield, VT 05667
www.social-ecology.org
Murray Bookchin, social & ecological theorist, dies at 85
see also: www.social-ecology.organd: www.therevolutionaryproject.wikispaces.com
Murray Bookchin, the visionary and often iconoclastic social theorist
and activist, died during the early morning of Sunday, July 30th in his
home in Burlington, Vermont. During a prolific career of writing,
teaching and political activism that spanned half a century, Bookchin
forged a new anti-authoritarian outlook rooted in ecology, dialectical
philosophy and left libertarianism.
During the 1950s and 60s, Bookchin built upon the legacies of utopian
social philosophy and critical theory, challenging the primacy of
Marxism on the left and linking contemporary ecological and urban
crises to problems of capital and social hierarchy in general.
Beginning in the mid-sixties, he pioneered a new political and
philosophical synthesis termed social ecology that sought to reclaim
local political power, by means of direct popular democracy, against
the consolidation and increasing centralization of the nation state.
From the 1960s to the present, the utopian dimension of Bookchin's
social ecology inspired several generations of social and ecological
activists, from the pioneering urban ecology movements of the sixties,
to the 1970s' back-to-the-land, antinuclear, and sustainable technology
movements, the beginnings of Green politics and organic agriculture in
the early 1980s, and the anti-authoritarian global justice movement
that came of age in 1999 in the streets of Seattle. His influence was
often cited by prominent political and social activists throughout the
US, Europe, South America, Turkey, Japan, and beyond.
Even as numerous social movements drew on his ideas, however, Bookchin
remained a relentless critic of the currents in those movements that he
found deeply disturbing, including the New Left's drift toward
Marxism-Leninism in the late 1960s, tendencies toward mysticism and
misanthropy in the radical environmental movement, and the growing
focus on individualism and personal lifestyles among 1990s anarchists.
In the late 1990s, Bookchin broke with anarchism, the political
tradition he had been most identified with for over 30 years and
articulated a new political vision that he called communalism.
Bookchin was raised in a leftist family in the Bronx during the 1920s
and ë30s. He enjoyed retelling the story of his expulsion from the
Young Communist League at age 18 for openly criticizing Stalin, his
brief flirtation with Trotskyism as a labor organizer in the foundries
of New Jersey, and his introduction to anarchism by veterans of the
immigrant labor movement during the 1950s. In 1974, he co-founded the
Institute for Social Ecology, along with Dan Chodorkoff, then a
graduate student at Vermont's Goddard College. For 30 years, the
Institute for Social Ecology has brought thousands of students to
Vermont for intensive educational programs focusing on the theory and
praxis of social ecology. A self-educated scholar and public
intellectual, Bookchin served as a full professor at Ramapo College of
New Jersey despite his own lack of conventional academic credentials.
He published more than 20 books and many hundreds of articles during
his lifetime, many of which were translated into Italian, German,
Spanish, Japanese, Turkish and other languages.
During the 1960s - ë80s, Bookchin emphasized his fundamental
theoretical break with Marxism, arguing that Marx's central focus on
economics and class obscured the more profound role of social hierarchy
in the shaping of human history. His anthropological studies affirmed
the role of domination by age, gender and other manifestations of
social power as the antecedents of modern-day economic exploitation. In
The Ecology of Freedom(1982), he examined the parallel legacies of
domination and freedom in human societies, from prehistoric times to
the present, and he later published a four-volume work, The Third
Revolution, exploring anti-authoritarian currents throughout the
Western revolutionary tradition.
At the same time, he criticized the lack of philosophical rigor that
has often plagued the anarchist tradition, and drew theoretical
sustenance from dialectical philosophy particularly the works of
Aristotle and Hegel; the Frankfurt School of which he became
increasingly critical in later years and even the works of Marx and
Lenin. During the past year, even while terminally ill in Burlington,
Bookchin was working toward a re-evaluation of what he perceived as the
historic failure of the 20th century left. He argued that Marxist
crisis theory failed to recognize the inherent flexibility and
malleability of capitalism, and that Marx never saw capitalism in its
true contemporary sense. Until his death, Bookchin asserted that only
the ecological problems created by modern capitalism were of sufficient
magnitude to portend the system's demise.
Murray Bookchin was diagnosed several months ago with a fatal heart
condition. He will be remembered by his devoted family members
including his long-time companion Janet Biehl, his former wife Bea
Bookchin, his son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter as well as
his friends, colleagues and frequent correspondents throughout the
world. There will be a public memorial service in Burlington, Vermont
on Sunday, August 13th. For more information, contact
info(at)social-ecology.org.
Brian Tokar is a dedicated GMO activist, bioregionalist, and good friend of the permaculture movement in the northeast, he can be reached at the address below:
Brian Tokar
Institute for Social Ecology
P.O. Box 48
Plainfield, VT 05667
www.social-ecology.org
.